For the third time in the last four seasons, the Cerritos College wrestling team finished in second place at the Southern California Championships, which took place at Lemoore College. The Falcons, who had four finalists and three individual championships, finished with 158 team points and trailed only Mt. San Antonio College. The team has advanced 11 wrestlers to the 3C2A State Championships, which will take place next weekend at Sierra College.

Winning championships in their individual weight classifications were 125-pound sophomore Adrian Jimenez (Marina HS/Missouri Valley State College), freshman 149-pound Sean Otero (Norwalk HS) and 184-pound sophomore Farzad Hashimi (El Dorado HS), while at 141 pounds, freshman Isaac Gonzalez (Western HS) settled for second place.

At 125 pounds, Jimenez opened with a bye in the first round and then recorded a 17-1 technical fall over Bakersfield College's Santana Ugues in his first match. In his semifinal match against Elias Casas of Victor Valley College, Jimenez led, 4-0 after the first two periods. An escape point and stalling penalty point against Jimenez made it a 4-2 match before a takedown with 35 seconds left in the third period proved to be the winning points of the match. That sent him to the finals to face Manuel Matir of Mt. San Antonio College. After a scoreless first period, Jimenez scored an early escape point to start the second period, while that would be the score heading into the final two minutes. After an escape point by Matir tied the match, Jimenez was able to record a takedown with just 16 seconds left, while a reversal at the buzzer accounted for the 4-3 final score. Sophomore teammate Jesse Hernandez (Santa Fe HS) finished in eighth place.

In what could be considered an upset, Otero was able to post three wins to capture the SoCal title. Receiving a bye in the first round, Otero came away with a tough 4-2 win over Emilio Medina of Moorpark College in his first match. Otero trailed, 1-0 heading into the third period, with an early escape knotting the match at 1-1. With 22 seconds left, Otero recorded a takedown for a 4-1 lead, with Medina escaping with 13 seconds left, but unable to take down Otero the rest of the way. A 4-0 win over Angel Salgado of Victor Valley College advanced Otero into the finals. A takedown midway through the first period would be all that was necessary to post the win, with Otero holding off Salgado the rest of the way. Taking on top-seeded Michael Williams of Mt. San Antonio in the championships, a scoreless first period made way for Otero to earn an escape point five seconds into the second period, with Williams choosing a neutral stance the remainder of the match and Otero fending off every attempt by Williams.

The third champion for the Falcons, Hashimi pinned his first two opponents to reach the championship match. After a bye, he finished off Drew Croft of Cuesta College in 5:39 and then needed 5:40 to pin Isaac Villalobos of Bakersfield in the semifinals. Hashimi was leading Croft, 13-3 at the time of the pin, while he was beating Villalobos, 13-4 when he recorded the pin. Taking on Sebastian Anderson of Palomar College in the finals, Hashimi trailed, 3-1 after the first period. But over the course of the next two minutes, Hashimi took over the match with a pair of escape points, followed by a takedown with 1:24 left and then a three-point near-fall with 1:06 remaining on the clock. Anderson did register a two-point reversal, while Hashimi posted his third escape point of the period and led, 10-5 heading into the third period. Hashimi was penalized a point for stalling, while Anderson added a point for riding time.

Gonzalez secured two wins at 141 pounds to reach the finals for Cerritos. He opened with a 21-5 technical fall win over Lucas Long of Rio Hondo College and then posted an 8-4 victory over Rocky Humphrey of Victor Valley in the semifinals. Taking on Jason Saenz of Mt. SAC in the championship match, Gonzalez led, 4-1 after the first period and carried that score into the third period. But Saenz was able to post a quick escape to start the third period and then took down Gonzalez right after that. Unable to escape or reverse the remainder of the match, Gonzalez suffered a 5-4 loss.

CERRITOS COLLEGE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHAMPIONSHIPS

125 Pounds - Adrian Jimenez (1st Place)
125 Pounds - Jesse Hernandez (8th Place)
133 Pounds - Elijah Flores (6th Place)
141 Pounds - Isaac Gonzalez (2nd Place)
149 Pounds - Sean Otero (1st Place)
149 Pounds - Spencer Parry (7th Place)
157 Pounds - Noah Zuniga (5th Place)
165 Pounds - Nathan Castellanos (9th Place)
174 Pounds - Abraham Galicia (8th Place)
184 Pounds - Farzad Hashimi (1st Place)
197 Pounds - Nelson Ramirez (4th Place)
285 Pounds - Simon Flores (6th Place)